Acting on Incoming Communication

In a previous post, I described 4 ways Discovery Machine models human behavior. The second way is by building models that communicate with other humans and automated entities to complete goals. In this post, I will expand upon how our Navy crew member models handle incoming radio message communications.

Attached to each of our crew member models is a data object we call a “Communication Handler.” The Communication Handler defines how the crew member model communicates with other human and automated entities while in the process of performing its mission. Below is a visual representation of a Communication Handler:

(click to enlarge)

In this representation, each branch contains an action to be completed in response to a particular incoming radio message. The action can be a simple reply acknowledging the receipt of the message (“Roger, copy”). Or, the action can be to set a flag in the attached crew member model, alerting the model to perform a more complex set of tasks in response to the message. For example, if the Communication Handler were to receive a request to launch a helicopter, the following series of high-level steps would occur:

1. The Communication Handler receives and acknowledges the incoming request to launch a helicopter
2. The Communication Handler sets a flag in the attached crew member model alerting it to the request
3. The crew member model adds and prioritizes the goal of launching a helicopter
4. When the crew member model determines that launching a helicopter is its highest priority goal, it completes the set of tasks needed to accomplish the goal